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I finally did it.
I decided to face the rewrite process for my “About Trees” manuscript.
This has felt like such a daunting task that I didn’t know how I could ever overcome.
I picked up my copy of Al Watt’s The 90-Day Memoir, grabbed a pen with a generous flow of ink, and started laps up and down my driveway, jotting notes and ideas down in the margins.
The sky was gray, and I was wearing a long skirt and thick socks with no shoes. My Irish wool sweater kept me warm as little drops of rain began to fall upon the pages, looking like tears that made me laugh, because it felt like something out of a British film – especially the flowers. Dandelions had cropped up over night where I’d whacked them less than twenty-four hours before with my mower. The fields have been covered by a downy purple that seems nearly fluorescent beneath the darkening sky, with ribboned rows granting glimpses of muddy furrows in between.
I have a feeling some of my verb tenses don’t match in that last paragraph; but I’m trying to relax from my perfectionistic tendencies.
It’s Spring in Indiana, and I love the crop of pretty weeds surrounding me.
It felt so inspiring that I stopped to share the scene as an Instagram post.
I added a song to it; but for some reason that disappeared, and now I can’t figure out how to imbed an Instagram video here. Things seem so complicated sometimes.
Moving on…
What Did I Accomplish Today to Be a Writer?
I did Day 101 of the 100 Words a Day Writing Challenge 2024 through LA Writer’s Lab and participated in the final course for the series of writing workshops I’ve been doing, led by Mary-Beth Manning. I may jump back in during the summer; but am going to take a break for a while to focus on finishing my book and getting my behind-the-scenes business strategy set in order.
That class helped me gain more confidence in sharing my work with others – especially on the fly, since it mostly centered around writing prompts, which we read out loud and then received feedback on, including questions and suggestions to delve deeper.
I had a pretty drastic “aha!” moment during today’s session, regarding the theme of my book, so I’m excited about that.
Well, I guess I will get back to working more on my memoir.
Thanks for reading what I’m writing,
Jody Susan
Here’s a look back at 99 days ago. I still seem to be striving toward the same goals; but at a much more sustainable pace:
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